


King for a Day

by salemunderworkings



Category: Z Nation (TV)
Genre: 10 is bi, Fluff, I got permission don't worry, M/M, Multiple chapters, Possible Spoilers, Roach / 10k, Unfinished, bxb - Freeform, mlm, roach is pan i guess?, roach isn't my character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-08-03 10:21:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16324409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/salemunderworkings/pseuds/salemunderworkings
Summary: He thought he was going to die, and then they found him. They became his saviours and his muse.





	1. THEM

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fanfiction of an oc from tumblr! the owners over there are "znationthemusical" and "10k-stimk"! They both have credit for the character Roach. Of c, i also don't own Z nation. A lot of this wont be canon for Roach's character, and just my headcanon's for him!

the last thing Roach remembered was laying on the ground. His mouth was completely dry, lips cracked and bleeding as he stared at the bright blue sky. The clouds were particularly fluffy that day- a very nice day to just...

 

Die, he guessed. 

 

He wished that he could have one last taste of a twinkie, craving the sugary treat since this entire thing went down. Though, he doubted that he’d be able to down anything with such a dry throat. He couldn’t even produce tears as he rose a shaky hand to cover his mouth and hide his strangled, soft sobs. This was it, he was convinced. This is where he died.

 

“Hey, do you hear that?” came a soft voice through the trees, making Roach pause his sobbing and fall as quiet as he could. Raiders. It had to be raiders, he was so convinced, but he didn’t want to die to a boot to the head. He was  _ scared.  _ He suddenly didn’t want to die, it was too soon. He was only.. Somewhere in his twenties. He didn’t really keep track anymore. 

 

Soon enough, he saw someone with firetruck red skin, sunglasses covering eyes and hood pulled over his head. Roach’s first thought was:  _ what the absolute fuck?   _ The n ext that came over was a balding older man, full beard and white hair, and then another male. All he remembered before he completely passed out was those stunning gray-blue eyes that stayed wide and alert. 

 

When he did wake, he was in the back of a truck, those same eyes staring him down, pale hands clutching at a rifle as he sat against the truck bed. One hand lifted from the rifle and knocked on the glass window. “Hey! He’s awake!” He said and the red-skinned man turned back to look at him. “About time.” he said and tossed a canteen back. The blue eyed boy caught it expertly, unscrewing the top and handing it to Roach.

 

Without a second thought, he snatched away the canteen and gulping down as much as he could. The red guy pulled away the canteen. “Alright, alright. Calm down, you’ll get more later.” He stated, watching over Roach for a long moment. “What’s your name, kid?” He asked. Scrunching his nose, roach would hesitate. “Ain’t really any of your business but... Roach.” He muttered, and the red guy stuck a hand out the window to shake, in which Roach only stared at it. 

 

Red guy heaved a sigh. “Great, We got another ten.” he said and roach scoffed. “Id like to think I'm at least a twelve, thank you very much.” at this, the old guy burst into laughter. 

 

“No, no. uh.. I’m ten thousand, A-K-A ten.” the blue-eyed guy explained and shifted where he sat, leaning back a bit. “Really? Your name is a number?” Roach asked, to which the ten kid responded: “Really? Your name is a bug?” in a sarcastic tone, which made red guy snicker.

 

“I’m Murphy. The guy driving is Doc.”

 

“Alright... I guess I should thank you guys for saving my ass, so.. Thank you.” he said, and he saw that ten guy crack a tiny smile before turning to look at the road that trailed behind him, and everything seemed to fall silent. The only thing that he heard for a solid hour was the hum of the truck engine and the scraping of tires against pebbles. Raising a hand, he would run his hand through his messy blond hair and slowly lean back his head before he felt someone tap on his knee. Looking up, he saw someone holding up the old ipod, a battery pack attached to a cord, the battery pack attached to tiny solar panels.

 

Slowly, he would take the ipod and swipe at the screen, pressing the home button and seeing it light up. Looking to the survivor, he gave a bright smile. “Thank you.” he said.

 

“Anything to see a smile in a world like this.”

 

He pulled a pair of earbuds from his pocket, plugging them in and going to the music app, turning on a play list.

 

_ In the end, it’s him and I. _


	2. HIM

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise mistakes bc i'm writing this while im tired af and,, oof yeah.

Roach had woken in near-complete darkness, his eyelids heavy with sleep and the only light being provided was a jar cemented to the truck bed with a candle in it. that 'ten' kid wasn't asleep, standing against the truck's roof. he could hear the soft breathing through his earbuds- though, he guessed they weren't soft if he could hear them. his eyes roamed the darkness for a moment before noticing the ratty fleece blanket thrown messily over him and the other people in the back of the truck that he had chosen to ignore. raising a hand, he would run it through his long hair, pulling out tangles and slowly pushing himself to sit up more. 

 

Ten would glance down at him and grunt out a soft "hey", which he would only grunt in response. he didn't really feel like talking right when he woke up, so he reached for the canteen that had put in the back, taking a quick swig and sighing. 

 

"so.. is roach a nickname, or were your parents just cruel?" ten asked randomly, trying to make conversation. roach would crane his head to look at the tall man, scrunching his nose slightly. "It's just a nickname." roach explained, raising his fingers to tap against his temple absently, putting his headphones aside and rubbing his neck to relieve the ache that had formed. 

 

"oh.."

 

there was a long silence.

 

"What about you?" roach asked after a moment. "Is ten thousand a nickname or were your parents just  _that_ cruel?" he joked lightly, which recieved a light chuckle from ten. 

 

"It's how many zombies I'm gonna kill." Roach had to stop for a moment. He guessed it wasn't exactly unreasonable, but he couldn't help but wonder.. "How do you know how many you've killed? do you keep count?" He asked curiously. ten gave a short nod.

 

"I'm on,, 7391." ten explained and glanced down at his gun for a moment. roach could see something in the males eyes but.. he couldn't place it. he was never great at placing other people's emotions, so he just put on a small little smile and pat the truck bed next to him. ten seemed to understand what the other was suggesting, and he sat down next to him slowly, keeping himself steady. he set his gun between his legs, leaning back. roach, being the smooth guy he was, set his arm around ten, resting it on the truck bed wall. everything seemed so.. peaceful.

 

roach hated it. he hated silence and couldn't focus without some sort of noise, so he took one ear bud and set it in his ear, turning on some music and offering ten the other ear bud. ten gladly took it, setting it in his ear carefully and listening as the music flowed through them. 

 

"Doc mentioned we may be stopping by a hardware store. he wants to see if he can find anything that can be used as a weapon." ten informed him. roach smirked slightly. he knew what hardware stores seemed to have a strange surplus of.. spray paint and, sometimes, explosive materials.

 

"Perfect."

 

with that, they both fell silent, both burdened with sleepy eyes. as they listened, they both seemed to fall into a light sleep. 

 

_Everything is gonna be alright, she whispered to herself.._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> song in italics at the end: his daughter, by molly kate kestner


	3. BELIEVE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, sorry for mistakes!

At around what Roach assumed was around 8AM, the truck came to a stop in front of an old, seemingly abandoned hardware store. the bricks had started to chip away and there wasn't a z to be seen for miles around, which was a very nice change of pace. maybe this town had already been wiped out, or they had gone to Newmerica.. or maybe something horrible had happened. either way, it was eerily quiet. 

 

Roach hated quiet. 

 

as everyone filed out of the truck, he would get a good look at what few people they had at the moment. A large black guy who looked tired both emotionally and physically, a small and slightly tubby Asian woman with shimmering brown eyes who was all smiles and sunshine, a teenage girl who was wearing dirty camo and was somehow paler than snow, and then there were his saviours- plus a pretty little ginger lady. he, of course, liked that number kid most. he couldn't quite remember, but he thought his name might be 10k. 

 

as the group made their way to the front door, Murphy sighed and ran a red hand through his hair. "how the hell are we gonna figure out if there's any Z's in there?" he asked at the door. Perking up, Roach suddenly smirked. "Leave that to me, Hellboy!" He announced. "Oh my god, please don't call me that." Murphy muttered, rubbing his temples in aggrivation. "No-can-do, Hellboy." Roach teased and took out his ipod to unhook the headphones and shrugged off his back pack to take out an old black beats pill. 

 

"I hope this thing still has some charge" he said and hooked it to the ipod, hearing the sound that it made when it turned on. "Yes!" he exclaimed triumphantly, nudging the doors open with his side and making sure the cost was clear before setting it on the front register, picking out a song and taking his thunderball from his belt. he hopped onto the item belt, and then pressing play, making sure the volume was all the way up.

 

_Tonight we are victorious, Champagne pouring over us! Tonight we are-_

 

"VICTORIOUS!" Roach shouted at the top of his lungs, starting to shout/sing along to the song that echoed through the building, smirking as he saw a Z start to stumble through an isle towards him with an firewood ax lodged in its chest. jumping down, Roach would start to spin the spiky ball on a chain, before swinging it full-force at the Z, grunting with effort but continuing to sing. he could barely hear the running footsteps come up behind him as he spun around and swung his thunderball, knocking items from the shelves as he hit a running Z in the skull, having to swing a second time to off it.

 

only moments later, the others were helping, ten using a knife, doc using hammers, and murphy.. well, murphy just threw the Z to the ground and stomped its skull in.

 

After a while of fighting, Roach moved to turn off the music and smirk. 

 

"We'll! I think we make a pretty good team!"

 

"And I think that think is  _awesome!_ " Ten chirped, moving over to get a closer look at the thunderball that Roach held loosely. "I know, right?" Roach responded proudly. "I made it myself."

 

"Seriously? How?" Doc inquired curiously, and Roach hummed. "Welded a bunch of empty spray paint cans together and torched that onto a heavy chain, and then put that on a bike handle!" Roach explained and spun the chain a bit absently. 

 

"Why spray paint cans?" Murphy asked and tilted his head curiously. A wide smirk came to his face as he remembered all the things he had tagged, nodding a bit proudly. "Well! My old group and I went around tagging shit constantly. I think my proudest tag was mnt. Rushmore!" Roach said as he seemed to space out a bit, remembering his friends and him climbing up with old climbing axes and shitty ropes. once he snapped out of it, the original three were staring at him with gapping jaws. 

 

"What?" Roach muttered. 

 

"Did you, by chance, tag the liberty bell?" Murphy continued to question. Roach chuckled slightly. "Yeah, How'd you know?"

 

Doc suddenly gasped. "You're the jackass with a spray can!" he exclaimed.


	4. DANCE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Triggers for: violence, mentions of blood, major injury(?)

As an hour passed, roach would find himself in an isle full of spray paint cans. It was a truly beautiful sight- brought a tear to his eyes.. Not really, but it was a good sight to see. He would stuff can after can into his bag, testing them on the floor just to make sure it worked. He grabbed any colours he could- reds, blues, golds, silvers, greens.. He didn’t want to run out again.

 

He remembered once in black summer that all him and his group had was spray paint, and he honestly considered drinking paint because he was so thirsty, so hungry.. It hadn’t been a good time. He remembered one of his friends suddenly collapsing and then he just.. Turned. He had had to explain to some of the younger kids in the group why he had had to shoot the kid.. And it had been the hardest moment of his life, he thinks, at least. 

 

He realised that he had spaced out when he heard footsteps coming closer, along with soft music. “You know, my pa never really let me use electronic stuff. He was convinced that they would take over the world.” Ten’s voice ripped him from his trance, making him jump and stuff the can he held into his bag. “I mean, considering all the AI’s and shit that came out before the apocalypse, I don’t really blame him.” Roach responded with a smile.

 

Ten couldn’t suppress his own little grin. “Yeah.. though i missed out on a lot of stuff as a kid..  Like i never got to use the internet, and i was only allowed to watch boy scout VCR tapes.” he mumbled a bit absently, both smiles fell a bit as ten searched through the songs and landed on a country song that Roach recognised.

 

_ I don’t dance, but here I am.. _

 

Roach’s smile returned, and he slowly extended his hand to ten. “Might i have this dance?” He asked in a very bad posh English accent, his southern accent still shining through slightly. He watched as a bright pink washed over ten, before ten started to laugh. Roach felt his heart start to pound, and suddenly, Ten had a hand in his. “Yes, yes you may~” He responded in a similar accent, though his was much better. 

 

Soon enough, they were dancing around the isle, Roach having abandoned his bag. Roach held his right hand- still intertwined with Ten’s- at a 90 degree angle, Roach’s left hand sat a bit low on Ten’s waist. They spun and stepped on each other’s toes, laughing as Roach spun Ten out and pulled him back steadily, spinning him in place sometimes, making corny jokes and teasing each other about this or that (Ten particularly like to tease him about redneck he sounded, and Roach liked to tease him about how he was horrible at dancing [“Hey, i’ve never danced before..! At least.. Not with someone else!”]). 

 

“Ready for the big finish~?” Roach asked, and Ten tilted his head. “Big fin-? ISH!” He would gasp out at roach suddenly dipped him, using the arm that wasn’t holding him up to dab ironically and slowly pull him back up.

 

They were laughing, Ten snorting once or twice softly, and Roach could feel his stomach do flips as he watched the other male smile and his eyes twinkle, chest heaving for air, hair tousled and falling in his face, laughter tears forming in those shimmering blue eyes.. 

 

_ God, he’s beautiful. _ Roach thought.  _ I’m so gay.. No, I’m pan but.. You get the point, me, shut up. _

 

He watched as Ten moved away, their hands pulling apart and bodies moving away from each other. He never thought that someone stepping on his toes would be something he would miss. 

 

“That was fun. I don’t think i’ve laughed that had in.. years.” Ten said with a slight smile. Roach would nod in agreement, moving to turn off the music and move to continue stuffing his bag with cans, only to feel something heavy suddenly ram into him, ten shouting as he was pushed onto the floor, hitting his head on the floor hard enough that roach could see blood when he looked over at him.

 

Whoever had attacked him was strong, and had probably fifty pounds on him, and maybe five or so inches on him. It wasn’t a Z, but..

 

Without thinking, his fist collided with the man’s nose, hearing a sickening crack from both the nose and his knuckles. A quick, panicked glance at ten would confirm he wasn’t moving, and wasn’t waking up.. So he had his whole plan quickly decided.

 

_ Don’t hold back. _

 

Roach would throw his entire weight at the man, fists tearing at clothes and hair as they fought, blood gushing from noses and roach was pretty sure he had gotten a tooth knocked out. Soon enough, they were being pulled apart, doc holding his arms behind his back with murphy pinned whoever the other guy was down to the ground. “What the hell is going on?!” Doc exclaimed, making sure that Roach wouldn’t hurt anyone before rushing to ten. When doc visibly relaxed after setting a hand over ten’s mouth and nose, so did Roach.

 

Spitting out blood onto the floor, Roach would slowly approach the man that had attacked him, and he looked.. Familiar. He got closer, and Murphy let him take him by the collar, yanking him up slightly. “Who the  _ Fuck _ are you?” he snarled in the male’s face, and the man pulled back his face. 

 

After getting a good look at him, he would pause. He definitely knew that messy mop of cool brown hair, the intense grey eyes, the tanned skin.

 

“Alexander?”

 

“Roach?”

 

“Oh, You dick!” they both said in unison, before this ‘Alexander’ guy started to chuckle. 

 

“Man, I haven’t seen you since that horde in New Orleans!” Alexander said, patting his shoulder happily as his nose bled. “Dude, I coulda killed your ass!” Roach scolded, whacking him over the head a bit roughly. “Yeah, sorry.. I didn’t realise it was you, and it’s just.. I thought you were raiders.”

 

Murphy frowned. “Yeah, raiders are the worst of your worries if the kid doesn’t wake up soon.”Murphy snapped, and both Roach and Alexander looked over. Suddenly, Roach felt numb, his ears becoming filled with the sound of a constant ring as he let go of alexander and moved to ten.

  
“ _ Fuck.. _ ”


	5. BLEEDING

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a super short filler chapter, since I wanted to write SOMETHING for the weekend. 
> 
> TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR BLOOD AND MINOR PANIC ATTACK

Blood seemed to gush from the wound on Ten's head, and as roach slowly rolled him onto his back, Ten didn't react. He was completely limp on the cold concrete floors. Roach felt panic rise in his throat as he fumbled for a pulse, paling considerably before doc pulled him away a bit. Roach squawked, staring up at Doc with wide, different coloured eyes. "I-I couldn't feel a pulse." Roach stuttered, and Doc knelt down with Ten.

 

"It's alright, Roach. Don't worry. Ten never has a pulse." He stated, and moved to take a rag from his belt to press to the wound. "We shouldn't move him, it could be dangerous." The old man muttered, slowly removing the rag to examine the cut. "Bet he's gonna have a concussion.. Hopefully it wont be too bad."

 

Roach felt the panic that had risen in his throat catch, everything laying in his mouth, pressing his tongue against the back of his teeth as he started to grind his teeth. "He's gonna be ok, right?" He asked, watching as Alexander inched closer, swearing up a storm. The panic seemed to dull as Doc responded with a 'yeah, don't worry!'. The panicked feeling quickly became a numbness, the ringing in his ears becoming deafening as he moved to one of the pillars in the middle of the isle, slowly sliding down the wall to sit. His knees would pull to his chest, resting his arms on his knees and setting his head in his arms. 

 

As the minutes passed, they would wait for Ten to come to, patching up his head and carefully cleaning the blood from his hair. Roach hadn't moved from his position for a while, not until he felt a warm body next to him. He looked up to see Alexander watching him with guilty eyes, slowly holding out his arms in offer of.. A hug, Roach assumed. Roach would hesitate, slowly leaning against his shoulder and staring ahead. The ringing had become more quiet, seeming to turn to gentle bells as he melted into the warmth of the larger man. 

 

"I'm sorry." 

 

"You didn't mean to." Roach mumbled immediately, pulling his flannel vest closer around him. Alexander's arm slowly draped around his shoulders, careful not to startle him or anything. Roach didn't seem to mind it, tired eyes watching Ten as he started to stir slightly. "today has already been too long."


End file.
